the old valve B&W TV's ,,we just switched them on... and watched the picture warm up as the tubes kicked in...... they never got warmed up.. signal hit them as soon as the switch was flicked... and then we just switched it off.... thousands of times over and over.... it never bothered the TV amp tubes much....

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I'll venture off topic now, it being my zombie and all....

A buddy and I were just talking about the great tone some old console TVs had....wonder if a guitar would sound good through one? Probably too bassy...

the old valve B&W TV's ,,we just switched them on... and watched the picture warm up as the tubes kicked in...... they never got warmed up.. signal hit them as soon as the switch was flicked...

and then we just switched it off.... thousands of times over and over.... it never bothered the TV amp tubes much....

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Not exactly true. TV tubes wore out and every grocery store sold them. Back in those days, the tubes were made better than what you find today. Thus the desire and market for NOS tubes and the huge price you pay for them today. Allot of old TV's had a stand by switch on the back intended for instant on. Some of those switches said things like Vacation/Instant on, or some other term. I remember my dad switching to vacation mode when we went away for a week or two, telling me it saved electricity. He also said, it's easier on the tubes to keep them warm instead of hitting them all at once with full voltage and current. As an electrical engineer working for NASA and helping me build my first radios and first stereo, I'll trust his judgment on that.

Speaking of TVs, do you remember the white dot? You turned the tv off, and it seemed as if the light on the screen was sucked out this little white dot in the center. The dot would stay on for a few seconds, then it was gone. This activity was a great going to bed ritual.

Imagine what our dads and/or us had to know how to do back then. I remember my dad having a big mirror set up on chair so that he could see the picture from behind the set, where he was tuning things, I guess. And, also, imagine all the Joe Blows taking a brown paper bag filled with tubes to the grocery store.

Somebody must have flipped the switch and left this thread on standby for five months.

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LMAO! I recall when it was first posted my inclination was to respond with something like that's what an on/off switch is for. Does it really need written instructions. Even the purpose of a standby switch seems pretty self explanatory to me.

Not exactly true. TV tubes wore out and every grocery store sold them. Back in those days, the tubes were made better than what you find today. Thus the desire and market for NOS tubes and the huge price you pay for them today. Allot of old TV's had a stand by switch on the back intended for instant on. Some of those switches said things like Vacation/Instant on, or some other term. I remember my dad switching to vacation mode when we went away for a week or two, telling me it saved electricity. He also said, it's easier on the tubes to keep them warm instead of hitting them all at once with full voltage and current. As an electrical engineer working for NASA and helping me build my first radios and first stereo, I'll trust his judgment on that.

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A highlight from growing up. I'm about 8 years old, 1959, and my Dad gives me a paper lunch bag full of tubes and a $5.00 bill. The next day, I walk a mile out to the drug store, test all the tubes on the tester they had, and buy a replacement for the bad one. Also blow $.05 on a coke at the soda fountain.

Vox's video on the comparison between the "custom" (reissue/redesign) and "handwired" AC30 points out that "with a tube rectifier a standby switch isn't needed" (or something to that effect). Which brings us back to the idea that companies are selling products with features that they believe the market is looking for; nothing wrong with that.

A highlight from growing up. I'm about 8 years old, 1959, and my Dad gives me a paper lunch bag full of tubes and a $5.00 bill. The next day, I walk a mile out to the drug store, test all the tubes on the tester they had, and buy a replacement for the bad one. Also blow $.05 on a coke at the soda fountain.

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I'm a little bit younger, born in 1964, but I remember the tube testing machine at my local Cardinal Drug Store. This would have been some time maybe up through the mid to late 70's. I never got to use it, maybe we thought it was unsafe to open up the back of the TV set and start pulling tubes. But I'd like to take a trip back in time to have a closer look at that tester and the tubes for sale in the old drug store.